U.S. Sportsbooks Won’t Offer Odds for the 2019 Spelling Bee

Don’t expect much action on the Spelling Bee at U.S. sportsbooks for the first competition with legal betting outside of Nevada.

None of the eight states that currently have legalized gambling in operation permit betting on the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which takes place this week in Washington D.C.

While the legal states vary in their rules, the ones that do permit betting on amateur sports only allow it to be on college sports or the Olympics.

In the past, offshore books have accepted action on props, including whether or not the winner will wear glasses or have braces and how long the championship word would be.

“We’ve been aware of the casual occurrences of people siding with spellers while in a restaurant or in a house watching,” said Spelling Bee spokesperson Valerie Miller. “But our focus is really on the spellers and the integrity of the competition”

The finals of the Spelling Bee will take place on ESPN on the night of May 30 at the same time as Game 1 of the NBA Finals.